Paying For The Sins Of Others

There have been times when the sins of others have cost me something. The cost was usually money or time. Once the sin of another man cost me a job.

Some of the details of the first car I bought are a little fuzzy in my memory. It was about 56 years ago. As I recall, the car had at least three and I think it was four different size tires on it. By the time I had a flat tire and discovered it, the thirty day oral guarantee had expired and probably didn*t cover tires anyway. The sin of that car dealer (or whoever traded it in) cost me some money.

I drove and enjoyed that shiny black 1949 Mercury for a couple of years anyway. I was still proud to own it. I would dust it off even when it wouldn*t run, which was quite often. I liked to park it on Main Street in front of my Dad*s business right next to his newer car. I could walk to school so people didn*t even have to know when my Mercury wasn*t running.

I once got stuck in a mud-hole and bent the drive shaft which caused the transmission to go out. All I had was reverse and high gear. If you tried to start out in high gear you would kill the motor. I had to park on a hill in order to get the car going. I would give it a push to get started down the hill, jump in, put it in high gear and pop the clutch when it got going fast enough to not kill the motor. Until I saved up the money to replace the transmission I couldn*t go anywhere that didn*t have a hill or someone to give me a push-start.

The Mercury had a three speed stick shift before and went 79 miles per hour. The transmission I put in it had an overdrive and then it would go over 90 miles per hour. I later figured out that the speedometer was off and when it showed 90 mph I was only going about 75. Terrible disappointment. I liked going faster but a short time later the engine blew a head gasket. I replaced that and it blew again. I guess the head was warped because after I put in two gaskets it ran pretty well. Other things were wrong. The springs and shock absorbers were worn out. When driving across a railroad track or other bumps the front end of the car would not bounce straight up and down. It would bounce in kind of a lurching circular motion. I think there were at least two girls that wouldn*t get in my car a second time because it made them seasick. Or maybe they thought it was too dangerous. The radio didn*t work so a friend of mine wired up his car radio in the back seat. We were taking two girls on a date when the wiring my friend put under the carpet set fire to the carpet. We had to find a ditch with some water in it and douse the fire. The problems I had with that car would probably fill a couple more pages.

I was not saved at the time and tried to exact some revenge on that dealer. I had to be subtle about it because the dealer was an advertiser in my Dad*s newspaper. I wanted a more dependable car before I went off to college so I bought one from the same dealer and traded in the Mercury. The windshield wipers didn*t work and there were some other ongoing problems with it. It was sprinkling as a friend and I drove the old car to the dealership. We stopped about a block from the dealer, got out and pushed the windshield wipers back and forth by hand to make it appear that they were working. Unless he junked the car, my dishonesty may have cost that dealer (or another buyer) some money. Perhaps it was a better car when I traded it in than when I bought it. By the way, that second car didn*t turn out to be much better. By the time I got saved that dealer was dead and gone. Too late to pray for him but I*m sure his family needs some prayer.

I don*t like paying for the sins of others and I*m sure they don*t like paying for mine. When the sins of others cost me something, it makes me angry. But my anger cools when they repent, apologize and make amends. It also cools when I pray for them. And it cools the most when I remember that my sin cost the Lord Jesus His blood and His life and that my sins against Him are far worse than anything done to me.

Care to discuss Paying For The Sins Of Others with Ron?

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